It feels great to finally be in the great city of Toronto and to be able to be able to serve the great Portuguese people here. The city is big and not entirely what I expected however there are a lot more Portuguese people here than I thought there would be at the beginning. However we should probably start at the beginning when I landed here.
I landed at the lovely YYZ an hour later than was anticipated to discover I was indeed the only person that was coming into the mission that week. I was eagerly greeted by the Mission President and his wife at the airport who were nothing but super nice the entire time. I had arrived finally and got to spend a good amount of time talking to the both of them in a mixture of English, french, and a little Portuguese as we drove to the mission home. When I arrived there we walked into the middle of what was explained to me as a family home evening training where the local missionaries were teaching different members or Recent converts gospel principles and how to conduct their own family home evenings. I was able to participate and from day one I got to share the gospel and bear my testimony of its truth. The feelings of Joy and peace that came over me as I did that testified to me that I was in the right place and this is what I am supposed to be doing right now.
That first night I stayed at the mission home and was able to rest from my long day of travel and prepare to meet my new companions in the morning. My new companions are Elder de Jesus from Portugal and Elder Johanson from Kearns, Utah. Elder de Jesus is 23 years old and has been serving for 12 transfers, (now 13), which is roughly a year and a half. He is from Lidera, Portugal and is a Ballet dancer and likes to beat box. Also he is totally obsessed with everything Japanese and is teaching himself Japanese while he is out here. Elder Johanson is 22 and is now on his last transfer and will be going home in October. His mother is from Brazil and so he speaks almost fluent Portuguese. He was originally called as an English missionary but right now the only two missionaries called as portuguese in the entire mission are myself and Elder de Jesus. We currently serve in the Christie ward in I think the Toronto Stake. We already have a bunch of cool investigators and some pretty great ward members that have been very welcoming.
I love the awesome spiritual experiences that I have had here teaching english, the gospel and trying to talk to anyone that moves. It is long and tiring everyday and sometimes difficult when we miss the bus. Also it is a lot of proselyting because we serve the entire mission and are in a portuguese/spanish ward, however I am going to bed satisfied ever day and wake up super excited for the next adventure. Except for satuday when we woke up at 3 to go to the temple... I was still excited just less capable of showing it.
Love you all! Abraco,
Elder Sam Smith
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